Story Notes:
Another Harold story. The idea was inspired by the Vengeance Theme, but because of computer issues there's no way I'll have it done in time for that, plus I dunno how well it'd fit in. Anyway... Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Classy Suspects
Chris arrived home sometime later and dropped onto the couch. By that time I'd straightened my thoughts out enough to notice something was wrong with him too. Usually the first words out of his mouth when he got home were "Harold, Rusty, you guys ready to catch a Pikachu today?" I don't know how many times he said it, but it almost always preceded a trip to the Pokemon Center and treatment for electrical burns. He only ever went straight to the couch when he had problems at school.
Amos must have noticed it too, giving his Son a smile. "Bad day, kiddo?"
Chris didn't say anything, he simply offered a slip of paper to his Father while keeping his eyes on the floor. My mind started on the worst possibilities straight away, but came to an abrupt stop when Amos chuckled after looking at it.
"Well, you know what this means, right?" He asked, folding the paper again.
"Yeah... I know." Chris sighed, getting up and heading to his bedroom.
With no explanation from Amos, who turned his attention to the television, I flew after Chris. I landed on top of his bookcase as he began to look through the titles.
"Sorry, Harold. No training today." He said, taking one of the thicker books. "My report card wasn't very good, so I gotta study. Stupid low english grade."
"That's all?" I wondered, relieved that it was something so simple. "I thought you got into a fight again or something."
"Oh yeah, we're going to have a special guest in class tomorrow. Anyone that has a Pokemon is allowed to bring one, so I thought I'd take you along. You've been there before for trainer classes before, so I know you'll stay put. Rusty would probably go nuts having to sit still for so long." He looked up at me and grinned. "We might even be able to get a rematch if Ashley brings Mace along."
There was a name that brought back memories. Ones I had almost forgotten. I winced, recalling how much pain I was in after our last little bout. "I can hardly wait." I muttered sarcastically, watching my trainer drop the book onto his desk. Knowing he was more focused on his work alone, I flew back into the living room and dropped onto my normal windowsill.
Risp was sitting just outside, waiting for me. "Harold, did you see what Amos did with the dead Spearow?"
"No, I wasn't really focused at the time." I said, making the irritation in my tone so obvious not even he could miss it.
Thrust landed next to me. "He wrapped it up in a cloth and took it somewhere."
"Aww, I wanted to get another sniff of it." The Growlithe whined.
"You're disgusting..." I muttered. I knew he was obsessed with scents, but that just didn't sound right.
"It's not like that. I thought I smelled something odd about it." He tilted his head, his right ear twitching. "I just can't figure out what."
"I'm more interested in who did it." Thrust buzzed. "Throwing a corpse over a fence, that's just stupid. If you've got a problem with someone you sting them head-on, not do shit like this! It's like those Trainers that rely on things like poison or sleep attacks! Fight fair, you cowardly bastards!"
I rolled my eyes at the lunatic. "Focus, Rusty. Amos hasn't gone anywhere, so it must still be around here."
"So we start looking for it?"
"Don't be stupid. We should wait until tonight, when everyone's sleeping." I said, glancing at Amos. "You know how they get when we start poking around."
"Right, right..." Thrust grumbled, tapping his stingers together impatiently. "...I just hope we end up getting to impale something."
"How many times do I have to remind you? No att-"
"No attacking humans. I know, I know. I hear that almost every day, like those damned jingles on television." He complained.
"Now I'm being compared to commercials... I think that's my cue to find some solitude." I said, getting ready to fly off when I remembered what happened earlier when I left. Then the idea didn't sound so good. "On second thought, I think I'll take a nap instead. Wake me when it's time for dinner."
---
That night, Rusty and I searched for the body of the Spearow, but weren't able to find it. We'd given up once it had started to get light out and went to bed. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get much time to rest between then and when Christopher's alarm went off. The morning, what I wasn't mostly asleep for, was pretty chaotic. Mainly because I was too tired to move and Chris was too stubborn to just put me in my pokeball.
I didn't fully wake up until we arrived at the school. Which was far too noisy to sleep at. I glared at the many loud young humans and Pokemon from my spot on Christopher's shoulder. Well, not directly on it, his Father had gotten him a special wooden protector-perch-thing so I could sit there without my talons digging into his arm.
"Hey, Chris!" A familiar voice shouted over the countless other ones, and Chris turned to face it so quickly I was almost tossed from my perch. A girl Chris' age came running over, her long black hair trailing behind her. "I see you brought Harold along again, who's looking grumpy as usual."
"Hard to be cheerful in these circumstances, kid." I muttered.
"Of course I brought him, we're itching for a rematch against you and Mace!" Chris said with such enthusiasm I had to tighten my grip again to keep from falling.
"I thought you'd say that. We're looking forward to it too, right Mace?" Ashley looked to her side, then to the other. "Mace?"
A Machop stumbled between a pair of students, bumping into Ashley before coming to a stop. "I'm here... I just don't know how you can move so fast in this place." He said, looking back the way he came. "I was almost stepped on a few times."
"There you are." Ashley grinned at him. "You need to get faster, Mace."
"Stepped on?" I wondered, staring at the Machop and mostly ignoring the humans who carried on their conversation. "You're only a head shorter than most of the students here."
"Height doesn't mean much when you trip over one of those bags and fall on your face." Mace grumbled, giving me an irritated look.
"Still a klutz. I can't believe I ever lost to you..." I sighed.
"I won due to superior fighting skills." He claimed, flexing his muscles.
"You won due to a fluke." I stated, actually starting to look forward to a rematch with the idiot. "It won't happen again."
Mace scowled. "You're all talk."
"Try me."
We exchanged threatening looks at each other until our trainers, who kept things much more civil between each other, parted ways. As we approached Chris' classroom things got quieter and I started getting tired again. The guest speaker Chris mentioned might have been worth listening to, but the last few times his school had one, they didn't turn up until after lunch. I could sleep through class without worrying, then. After all, it's not like they were trying to teach me.
---
The school's lunch bell woke me up, but the food's what kept me conscious. It wasn't that good, but since I had barely eaten breakfast I didn't really care. After we ate it was time for what Chris usually called his favorite part of school, aside from time to leave, recess.
Once we were outside, Chris suggested I get some exercise since it helped him feel better after being stuck in a classroom for so long. I didn't bother with the exercise, but I did head off to find a place to rest by the building where I hopefully wouldn't get hit with anything the humans were throwing or kicking around. A lot of the other Pokemon were out as well, some with their trainers and others, like me, off on their own.
I kept my attention on Chris, mind drifting to the dead Spearow again. If it was meant for him, it'd have to be someone that didn't like him. I could think of three kids like that straight away, but they weren't paying any attention to my trainer. They were with a few other students having a race with their Pokemon.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt for the moment, I looked back at Chris. When something suddenly wrapped loosely around my head, making my view go yellow.
A familiar and very cheerful voice soon followed. "Guess who!"
"A reckless, alley-dwelling rat?"
"That's just mean." The speaker pouted, removing my tail-blindfold. "We both know I'm too cute to be called a rat."
"I'll have to take your word for that." I said, glancing at the Pikachu. "I've been sent to the Pokemon Center so many times by your sort you all look like yellow harbingers of pain to me."
"C'mon, Harry. I've never hurt you, have I?"
"Not yet... and don't call me that." I turned back to watch Chris, who was talking to Ashley again. "Why are you here anyway, Kana? You're still free, aren't you?"
"Of course. If a trainer ever catches me, it'll be because I let them." She said, confident as always. It reminded me of myself, when I was still on my own. I never thought a trainer would get me, then I almost got killed along with captured. Hopefully she wouldn't end up in the same situation, but with an attitude like that...
"Is that why you're here? Looking for a suitable trainer?" I wondered.
"Something like that."
"Well, if you ever do want to get caught, try Chris. He's always trying to find a Pikachu and if you joined it'd mean not getting electrocuted every other day."
Kana giggled. "I'll keep that in mind. Now if you'll excuse me, I see someone else I should say hello to." She said, dashing off into a small crowd of Pokemon.
Watching her run off before turning my attention back to more important things, a ball hit the ground in front of me, making me jump in surprise and rethink the safety of my position. Giving Chris a quick glance, I flew off to the far corner of the school yard.
There were a few trees in that area to hide the old shed where they kept everything needed to keep the outside looking presentable. At least, that's what I guessed after seeing the front end of a lawnmower through the half-open door. I would have wondered why it wasn't locked, but the light snoring coming from inside made it pretty obvious the groundskeeper was taking a break.
I took a spot in one of the trees where I could see everyone. Chris was off with Ashley, reading a piece of paper. I didn't see Mace. Which I thought was odd at first, then figured he was mingling with other Pokemon or, more likely, had fallen on his face and was hidden in the crowd. What worried me was that I lost track of those three punks that had given Chris problems before.
I wasn't given a chance to find them again, either. A brief rustle of leaves was the only warning I got before something slammed into the back of my head. Everything went blurry as I fell from the branch, blacking out when I landed beak-first in the dirt.
Amos must have noticed it too, giving his Son a smile. "Bad day, kiddo?"
Chris didn't say anything, he simply offered a slip of paper to his Father while keeping his eyes on the floor. My mind started on the worst possibilities straight away, but came to an abrupt stop when Amos chuckled after looking at it.
"Well, you know what this means, right?" He asked, folding the paper again.
"Yeah... I know." Chris sighed, getting up and heading to his bedroom.
With no explanation from Amos, who turned his attention to the television, I flew after Chris. I landed on top of his bookcase as he began to look through the titles.
"Sorry, Harold. No training today." He said, taking one of the thicker books. "My report card wasn't very good, so I gotta study. Stupid low english grade."
"That's all?" I wondered, relieved that it was something so simple. "I thought you got into a fight again or something."
"Oh yeah, we're going to have a special guest in class tomorrow. Anyone that has a Pokemon is allowed to bring one, so I thought I'd take you along. You've been there before for trainer classes before, so I know you'll stay put. Rusty would probably go nuts having to sit still for so long." He looked up at me and grinned. "We might even be able to get a rematch if Ashley brings Mace along."
There was a name that brought back memories. Ones I had almost forgotten. I winced, recalling how much pain I was in after our last little bout. "I can hardly wait." I muttered sarcastically, watching my trainer drop the book onto his desk. Knowing he was more focused on his work alone, I flew back into the living room and dropped onto my normal windowsill.
Risp was sitting just outside, waiting for me. "Harold, did you see what Amos did with the dead Spearow?"
"No, I wasn't really focused at the time." I said, making the irritation in my tone so obvious not even he could miss it.
Thrust landed next to me. "He wrapped it up in a cloth and took it somewhere."
"Aww, I wanted to get another sniff of it." The Growlithe whined.
"You're disgusting..." I muttered. I knew he was obsessed with scents, but that just didn't sound right.
"It's not like that. I thought I smelled something odd about it." He tilted his head, his right ear twitching. "I just can't figure out what."
"I'm more interested in who did it." Thrust buzzed. "Throwing a corpse over a fence, that's just stupid. If you've got a problem with someone you sting them head-on, not do shit like this! It's like those Trainers that rely on things like poison or sleep attacks! Fight fair, you cowardly bastards!"
I rolled my eyes at the lunatic. "Focus, Rusty. Amos hasn't gone anywhere, so it must still be around here."
"So we start looking for it?"
"Don't be stupid. We should wait until tonight, when everyone's sleeping." I said, glancing at Amos. "You know how they get when we start poking around."
"Right, right..." Thrust grumbled, tapping his stingers together impatiently. "...I just hope we end up getting to impale something."
"How many times do I have to remind you? No att-"
"No attacking humans. I know, I know. I hear that almost every day, like those damned jingles on television." He complained.
"Now I'm being compared to commercials... I think that's my cue to find some solitude." I said, getting ready to fly off when I remembered what happened earlier when I left. Then the idea didn't sound so good. "On second thought, I think I'll take a nap instead. Wake me when it's time for dinner."
---
That night, Rusty and I searched for the body of the Spearow, but weren't able to find it. We'd given up once it had started to get light out and went to bed. Unfortunately for me, I didn't get much time to rest between then and when Christopher's alarm went off. The morning, what I wasn't mostly asleep for, was pretty chaotic. Mainly because I was too tired to move and Chris was too stubborn to just put me in my pokeball.
I didn't fully wake up until we arrived at the school. Which was far too noisy to sleep at. I glared at the many loud young humans and Pokemon from my spot on Christopher's shoulder. Well, not directly on it, his Father had gotten him a special wooden protector-perch-thing so I could sit there without my talons digging into his arm.
"Hey, Chris!" A familiar voice shouted over the countless other ones, and Chris turned to face it so quickly I was almost tossed from my perch. A girl Chris' age came running over, her long black hair trailing behind her. "I see you brought Harold along again, who's looking grumpy as usual."
"Hard to be cheerful in these circumstances, kid." I muttered.
"Of course I brought him, we're itching for a rematch against you and Mace!" Chris said with such enthusiasm I had to tighten my grip again to keep from falling.
"I thought you'd say that. We're looking forward to it too, right Mace?" Ashley looked to her side, then to the other. "Mace?"
A Machop stumbled between a pair of students, bumping into Ashley before coming to a stop. "I'm here... I just don't know how you can move so fast in this place." He said, looking back the way he came. "I was almost stepped on a few times."
"There you are." Ashley grinned at him. "You need to get faster, Mace."
"Stepped on?" I wondered, staring at the Machop and mostly ignoring the humans who carried on their conversation. "You're only a head shorter than most of the students here."
"Height doesn't mean much when you trip over one of those bags and fall on your face." Mace grumbled, giving me an irritated look.
"Still a klutz. I can't believe I ever lost to you..." I sighed.
"I won due to superior fighting skills." He claimed, flexing his muscles.
"You won due to a fluke." I stated, actually starting to look forward to a rematch with the idiot. "It won't happen again."
Mace scowled. "You're all talk."
"Try me."
We exchanged threatening looks at each other until our trainers, who kept things much more civil between each other, parted ways. As we approached Chris' classroom things got quieter and I started getting tired again. The guest speaker Chris mentioned might have been worth listening to, but the last few times his school had one, they didn't turn up until after lunch. I could sleep through class without worrying, then. After all, it's not like they were trying to teach me.
---
The school's lunch bell woke me up, but the food's what kept me conscious. It wasn't that good, but since I had barely eaten breakfast I didn't really care. After we ate it was time for what Chris usually called his favorite part of school, aside from time to leave, recess.
Once we were outside, Chris suggested I get some exercise since it helped him feel better after being stuck in a classroom for so long. I didn't bother with the exercise, but I did head off to find a place to rest by the building where I hopefully wouldn't get hit with anything the humans were throwing or kicking around. A lot of the other Pokemon were out as well, some with their trainers and others, like me, off on their own.
I kept my attention on Chris, mind drifting to the dead Spearow again. If it was meant for him, it'd have to be someone that didn't like him. I could think of three kids like that straight away, but they weren't paying any attention to my trainer. They were with a few other students having a race with their Pokemon.
Giving them the benefit of the doubt for the moment, I looked back at Chris. When something suddenly wrapped loosely around my head, making my view go yellow.
A familiar and very cheerful voice soon followed. "Guess who!"
"A reckless, alley-dwelling rat?"
"That's just mean." The speaker pouted, removing my tail-blindfold. "We both know I'm too cute to be called a rat."
"I'll have to take your word for that." I said, glancing at the Pikachu. "I've been sent to the Pokemon Center so many times by your sort you all look like yellow harbingers of pain to me."
"C'mon, Harry. I've never hurt you, have I?"
"Not yet... and don't call me that." I turned back to watch Chris, who was talking to Ashley again. "Why are you here anyway, Kana? You're still free, aren't you?"
"Of course. If a trainer ever catches me, it'll be because I let them." She said, confident as always. It reminded me of myself, when I was still on my own. I never thought a trainer would get me, then I almost got killed along with captured. Hopefully she wouldn't end up in the same situation, but with an attitude like that...
"Is that why you're here? Looking for a suitable trainer?" I wondered.
"Something like that."
"Well, if you ever do want to get caught, try Chris. He's always trying to find a Pikachu and if you joined it'd mean not getting electrocuted every other day."
Kana giggled. "I'll keep that in mind. Now if you'll excuse me, I see someone else I should say hello to." She said, dashing off into a small crowd of Pokemon.
Watching her run off before turning my attention back to more important things, a ball hit the ground in front of me, making me jump in surprise and rethink the safety of my position. Giving Chris a quick glance, I flew off to the far corner of the school yard.
There were a few trees in that area to hide the old shed where they kept everything needed to keep the outside looking presentable. At least, that's what I guessed after seeing the front end of a lawnmower through the half-open door. I would have wondered why it wasn't locked, but the light snoring coming from inside made it pretty obvious the groundskeeper was taking a break.
I took a spot in one of the trees where I could see everyone. Chris was off with Ashley, reading a piece of paper. I didn't see Mace. Which I thought was odd at first, then figured he was mingling with other Pokemon or, more likely, had fallen on his face and was hidden in the crowd. What worried me was that I lost track of those three punks that had given Chris problems before.
I wasn't given a chance to find them again, either. A brief rustle of leaves was the only warning I got before something slammed into the back of my head. Everything went blurry as I fell from the branch, blacking out when I landed beak-first in the dirt.